Orwin Manor

An article in the Orange Sentinel, ''Orwin Manor resisting enlargement of building,'' which referred to the former Florida Gas Building at Orange Avenue and U.S. Highway 17-92, brought to mind the days of boom and bust followed by the Depression, in Winter Park and Orlando.Orwin Manor began with high hopes during the boom. Neither in Orlando nor in Winter Park, it was hard hit when streetlights, streets, police and fire protection were disclaimed by both towns.In all the bickering, the Orlando papers, of which there were separate morning and evening ones, began to dub Orwin Manor as ''Orphan Manor.

Mediterranean Revival has been a favorite architectural style for homes in new, upscale subdivisions throughout Central Florida for several decades. But in Orlando and Winter Park, there really is nothing unique about stuccoed walls, arched windows and tiled roofs. During the past 100 years in those cities, a succession of builders has been inspired by the villas of Italy and Spain. One such Mediterranean Revival home, built in 1925, belongs to Jim Dougherty and Dianne Bean of Winter Park.

Seven weeks after Orwin Manor residents claimed victory over the Olympia & York Southeast Equity Corp., the residents and the development company again will go head to head at Tuesday's city commission meeting.In April, Orwin Manor residents successfully opposed the developers' plans to remodel the former Florida Gas building at Orange Avenue and U.S. Highway 17-92. The city commission denied Olympia & York's request to add 22,000 square feet of office space and five bank drive-in lanes to the seven-story, 109,000-square-foot building.

Whan that Aprille, with his shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the roote . . . Ever memorize those lines in school? They begin the "Prologue" to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, an old paean to the month when sweet showers are supposed to banish March's dry earth and usher in the flowers. So far, it's been sparse in the showers department but blooming nonetheless, and the month offers two more chances to visit historic neighborhoods and get a look-see at what's sprouting. One event features a peek inside vintage homes.

When Winter Park residents look at development elsewhere in Orange County, they tend to shake their heads and say: ''Not here.''But as commercial development and redevelopment gain a foothold in the city, many fear the character of their neighborhoods will change for the worse.No single group perhaps knows that better than the residents of Orwin Manor, who will state their opposition to two projects during the Winter Park City Commission's meeting at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.Stephen Pategas, president of the Orwin Manor Association, said growth in Orange County is ''fertilized, not managed.

Orwin Manor residents' plea that the city commission ''stand firm'' against Olympia & York Southeast Equity Corp. fell on deaf ears Tuesday, and commissioners approved the development company's request to remodel the former Florida Gas building.The commission voted 4 to 1 in favor of Olympia & York's plans to add 4,000 square feet of office space to the seven-story building at Orange Avenue and U.S. Highway 17-92. Mayor David Johnston cast the dissenting vote.Two months ago residents successfully opposed Olympia & York's plans to add 22,000 square feet of office space and five drive-in bank lanes to the 109,000 square-foot-building next to a residential neighborhood.

Orwin Manor residents, fearing the character of their neighborhood will change, are fighting a proposal to enlarge the former Florida Gas Building at Orange Avenue and U.S. Highway 17-92.The plans will be discussed during Tuesday's 7 p.m. meeting of the planning and zoning commission at city hall.The Orwin Manor Association, a residents group with about 180 members, has contacted city commissioners to state its opposition to the plans.This is not the first time the association has opposed development residents believed would harm their neighborhood.

When people were interested in buying a home along the Orlando-Winter Park border back in the 1920s, Walter Rose was the man they saw.Rose, the founder of the Orlando Realty Board, was always ready to give them the soft sell - free orange juice and chauffeured tour-bus rides around his Orwin Manor subdivision of homes.''It was quite an affair there for a while,'' said Babe Spears, Rose's 72-year-old daughter from Orlando.A lot of things have changed in that neighborhood, but the gateway leading into Orwin Manor is still there, looking much as it did when it was erected in 1924.

A tiny triangle of grass facing Orange Avenue soon will be a neighborhood park for community gatherings and children's playtime.Orwin Manor homeowners, who have been working for nearly four years on the park, are beginning to see the fruits of their labor.Clearing work began last week on the eight-tenths of an acre at Berkshire and Orange avenues.Stephen Pategas, who is spearheading the park efforts, said the homeowners association is preparing to raise money for playground equipment and landscaping.

A brick sale for the park at Orwin Manor is under way. The park is being built with volunteers, donations and some assistance from the city. The brick sale will raise cash needed for the project.For $30, individuals and companies can buy a 4-by-8-inch brick that can be engraved with three lines of text. The bricks will be arranged in a circle, which will be the park's primary gathering place for group events.For details, call (407) 896-4477 or write The Park at Orwin Manor Committee, 1655 Berkshire Ave., Winter Park, 32789.

An Orlando City Council candidate wants to prohibit incumbents from using taxpayer money to send mail that he calls "thinly disguised" political material during campaign season. Candidate Robert Stuart is in an April 11 runoff election against Commissioner Vicki Vargo, who has used her City Council budget to mail letters about her work on city issues to residents of Baldwin Park, Spring Lake and Orwin Manor during the past 10 days. Stuart says the letters are a way to contact voters in the waning days of a campaign without spending private political contributions.

When drivers head north on Orange Avenue from downtown Orlando through the Lake Ivanhoe antiques district and into Winter Park, they travel between some sizable antiques from the 1920s in Central Florida: the big stucco gates where Orange Avenue curves and meets Clay and Wilkinson streets. Now an Orlando historic landmark, the gates in 1924 proclaimed the borders of a new development called Orwin Manor -- a product of the Central Florida Development Co. led by Walter W. Rose, a key figure in Orange County's history.

WINTER PARK - The city has approved giving $24,000 in community improvement grants for five neighborhoods, but none of the money is going to the predominantly black, lower-income neighborhoods on the west side where some of the greatest needs exist.That's because only official neighborhood associations are eligible to apply, and few of the west side homeowners, if any, have organized.The city's Neighborhood Council wants to work with those communities and others in the next several months to help them form associations so they will be ready for next year's cycle of grants.

The long-discussed plans to build a passenger rail system in Central Florida become much more real this week for people living or doing business along the system's proposed alignment.Rail officials will hold three meetings beginning Tuesday to display a set of aerial pictures indicating which homes or businesses might be sacrificed during construction. The number of homes or apartment units that could be lost to the project ranges from 15 to 40. The number of businesses that may have to go ranges from 61 to 78.The total number of properties that could be affected at all - whether by being demolished or by losing a portion of the land - ranges from 171 to 220.Phil Smelley, one of the lead consultants on the project, said that for a 25-mile rail system the number of buildings that would have to be destroyed is ''phenomenally small.

DON'T RAIN ON HIS PARADE. Winter Park Commission candidate Tom Ivey knew he was facing a hostile audience at an Orwin Manor candidate forum this week. Residents there didn't appreciate his support of Calvary Assembly of God's expansion several years ago when he was city commissioner. And they haven't forgotten his stance on other development issues they believe hurt their neighborhood. Sure enough, homeowners barraged him with testy questions. ''Why should we believe you'll work for Orwin Manor in the future when you haven't in the past?

A brick sale for the park at Orwin Manor is under way. The park is being built with volunteers, donations and some assistance from the city. The brick sale will raise cash needed for the project.For $30, individuals and companies can buy a 4-by-8-inch brick that can be engraved with three lines of text. The bricks will be arranged in a circle, which will be the park's primary gathering place for group events.For details, call (407) 896-4477 or write The Park at Orwin Manor Committee, 1655 Berkshire Ave., Winter Park, 32789.